Painting & Assembling or Assembling & Painting?

[Glaiber]

I was not so sure which thread to put this in so the utmost apologies if it is in the wrong one, anyways moving on, I have got a miniatures kit with several miniatures that need to be assembled (I have had kits like this before but painted them with little success) and would like to take the safe route this time by asking which is better painting then assembling or assembling then painting? any advice would be appreciated.

[redzed]

assemble as much as is feasibly possible before painting.

[JollyBob]

Yeah, I agree. If you can assemble it into three or four components that will fit together easily when painted with a minimum amount of retouching and join hiding, I would recommend it.

Everytime I do something complicated, I always end up at a point where I think "why didn't I paint this bit before I glued it in place?"

And then next time, I do exactly the same thing. 

It might help us to help you if we knew what kit you were working on though?

[Glaiber]

It is a Warhammer 40K Cadian heavy weapons team, I would be working on BEF 1914 renegade miniatures but i only recently ordered them and as i live in the U.S. they havent arrived yet 

[Captain Blood]

I'd assemble then paint as far as possible 
Good luck with them.

[dbsubashi]

If you are gluing both Guardsmen to the base (as opposed to just the gunner, or mounting them both on 25mm bases), I would assemble the gun, the gunner and the assistant/ammo loader as separate pieces. Put them on the large base to check fit, and when happy, glue the gun to the base. Paint the gun. Paint the Guardsmen separately, and mount them when done, then add basing material. In general, always glue models together, then paint. You will get a stronger bond that way, and your new troops will stay in one piece longer. My preference for gaming pieces is the strongest bond over all the details. However with the kneeling Guardsmen, and especially the large base, you may have problems painting all the nooks and crannies. Good black primer should help cover any areas you can't reach with a brush.

Good luck, and post some pics when they're done! 

[Commander Vyper]

For the gun team, build all three pieces, drill and pin the feet of the guardsman and base the gun on a slotta. Paint then move to the final base.